Solar Tiles on CHS

We (no students) had a chance earlier today to make a trip to the top of the CHS roof and see the progress from Axiom Solar. A quick change is happening to provide us a free resource for electricity needs at CHS. It may not solve all electricity needs but it does provide us a wonderful resource to use going forward.

PSAT Test on the Horizon

All sophomores (and freshmen who have registered) will take the PSAT Wednesday, October 15th from 8:00 AM until 11:30 AM. Testers please bring a calculator with you on Wednesday and know all electronics other than a calculator will be taken up and secured from 8:00 AM until 11:30 AM when students will resume their normal schedule starting with 7th period.

We can expect heavy traffic that morning... since all CHS students will report to campus, so please plan accordingly. Visitors will not be allowed on campus until the test has concluded at 11:30. Sophomores cannot be checked out during this time or their test will be invalidated.

We look forward to this opportunity for our testers so please help us make this day a success.

Jazz Success

We're proud to announce that our jazz students had an outstanding showing on Saturday at the All-Region Jazz auditions! Over 100 students from high schools in Frisco, Carrollton, Lake Dallas, Farmers Branch, Lewisville, Flower Mound, Grapevine, Colleyville and Southlake competed at R.L. Turner High School in Carrollton for placement in a spot in one of two 20-member jazz ensembles. At the end of the day, 15 of our students placed in one of the two bands. Six Dragons placed in the top group, and will have the opportunity to audition for All-State Jazz next week.

Jazz Ensemble 1 (Will audition for All-State Jazz)
Alto Sax 1 - Adam Sasek
Tenor Sax 1 - Will Nathman
Trumpet 1 - Adam Horne
Trumpet 2 - Colter Johnson
Trumpet 3 - Mylon Johnson
Trombone 3 - Christopher Cunningham

Jazz Ensemble 2
Tenor Sax 2 - Kyle Cantrell
Bari Sax - Zach Susskind
Trumpet 1 - Keara Hanlon
Trombone 1 - Austin Woolsey
Trombone 2 - Jaden Curreri
Trombone 5 - Jackson Bicart
Guitar - Ryan Burks
Piano - Ariel Szekely
Drumset - Jackson Wright

Great job Dragons!

First Week Success

We would love to thank our kids, parents, staff, and community for a great first week of school at CHS. Your efforts have made this week one of the best we've seen in education.

As we begin to enter week 2 you should start to see grades begin to form for your students. Please communicate with our staff at anytime if you have questions. Our belief is we must work as a team for your child's success. Great teamwork will help your child continue to grow every day in Carroll.

Please remember both entering and exiting the campus is a busy event. We have 1425 kids coming and going and some are new drivers. Please be respectful and slow as you drive near campus. In addition, please remember cell phones should not be present while driving. We will be sending out traffic announcements next week as our police will start to wrap up the time they've devoted to our entrance and exits at CHS.

Thank you again for a great first week and have a wonderful long weekend.

Counseling Blog Up and Running

I'm excited to announce the new Counseling Blog that is up and running now. You may find this by clicking on the following link.

CHS/CSHS Counseling Blog

The site will provide a registration FAQ and up to date information for parents regarding items our counselors find interesting. We are excited to welcome our counselors to this area and look forward to sharing their information.

2014 Teacher of the Year

We would like to congratulate Mrs. Jennifer Wunderlich on the honor of being named the CHS Teacher of the Year and thank her for her dedication to the community and most importantly to all of our students. She pushes for excellence every day and this is our opportunity to provide her acknowledgement for her excellence.

The additional teachers nominated for CHS Teacher of the Year are:

Diane Bean, Special Education Teacher

Keri Brooke, Spanish Teacher
Shane Bybee, English Teacher
Dorothy Cassetta, Social Studies Teacher
Brett Pollock, Social Studies Teacher
Rhea Voelkle, Science Co-Teacher

Thank you to each of these teachers for striving to be excellent every day at CHS.

STEM Course Information Meetings

There will be two information meetings for parents and students regarding our new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) courses that will be offered beginning with the 2014-15 school year.  The same information will be shared at both meetings.

The meeting dates/times/locations are:

Tuesday, March 4 – 6:00 p.m. – Carroll High School Library***

Tuesday, March 18 – 6:00 p.m. – Carroll High School Library

Alice Fitzgerald, our STEM Director, and Linda Woessner, our Computer Science and Robotics Director, will present information regarding the new courses that will be offered and will answer questions.

If you have any questions about these meetings, please contact the Carroll High School Guidance Office at 817.949.5620.

***The March 4^th STEM Information Meeting will be held prior to the 6:30 p.m. 8^th grade Parent Information Meeting that will be held in the Carroll High School Cafeteria.  Additionally, Mrs. Fitzgerald and Mrs. Woessner will be available after the 6:30 p.m. 8^th grade Parent Information Meeting, in the cafeteria.

2 Hour Delayed Schedule

Several have asked about our schedule today...

1st Block: 10:00 to 11:00
2nd Block: 11:15 to 12:15
3rd Block: 12:30 to 2:00 (We will have 2 lunch periods)
4th Block: 2:15 to 3:21

Be safe and see you soon!

Dragon Tribune Updated

There’s a host of New Year’s Resolutions from high school students to sample, a very interesting story about problems expected to be faced by Millenials, a poll asking students to take to determine their feelings about the government, the economy, morality, technology and the environment...follow up in the next addition.

There’s a story about BMW and Audi competing to be the first to market driverless cars, another on important nutritional information for teens and a list of upcoming concerts for students in 2014.  

 

The Web site is:  www.dragontribune.com and we hope you enjoy.

2014 Samsung Contest Winner

We would like to say congratulations to Alice FitzGerald and our STEM program on being named the 2014 Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Texas state winner.

Alice's efforts will bring CHS/CSHS $20,000 in STEM technology and help to continue to build our new program in CISD. We'd also like to wish her good luck in the National Competition this spring!

Unity Project

We look forward to seeing our students begin to give each other a better connection to positively impact CISD.

AP® District Honor Roll

Commissioner of Education Michael Williams today noted that 14 Texas school districts are among 477 in the U.S. and Canada being honored by the College Board with placement on its 4th Annual AP^® District Honor Roll. The Honor Roll recognizes districts for increasing access to AP course work while simultaneously maintaining or increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP Exams.

The 13 districts and one charter school in Texas that have earned this national distinction are:

§  Carroll Independent School District (Southlake, TX)

§  Coppell Independent School District
§  Eagle Pass Independent School District
§  Frisco Independent School District
§  IDEA Public Schools
§  Irving Independent School District
§  Katy Independent School District
§  Lake Travis Independent School District
§  Mesquite Independent School District
§  Pasadena Independent School District
§  Plano Independent School District
§  Point Isabel Independent School District
§  Sharyland Independent School District (Mission, TX)
§  Southwest Independent School District (San Antonio, TX)

“Students in school districts across Texas are tackling rigorous Advanced Placement courses and succeeding,” said Commissioner Williams. “This opportunity to prepare for post secondary success in high school pays great dividends in our education system today and for our state’s economic future.”

In 2013, more than 3,300 colleges and universities around the world received AP scores for college credit, advanced placement and/or consideration in the admission process, with many colleges and universities in the United States offering credit in one or more subjects for qualifying AP scores.

Data from 2013 show that among African-American, Hispanic and Native American students with a high degree of readiness for AP, only about half of students are participating because their schools do not always offer the AP course for which they have potential. Trevor Packer, the College Board’s senior vice president of AP and Instruction, notes that these 14 Texas districts are committed to expanding the availability of AP courses among prepared and motivated students of all backgrounds.

“We applaud the extraordinary efforts of the devoted teachers and administrators in these districts who are offering more students the opportunity to engage in rigorous college-level course work,” said Packer. “These outcomes are a powerful testament to educators’ belief that a more diverse population of students is ready for the sort of rigor that will prepare them for success in college.”

Inclusion on the 4th Annual AP District Honor Roll is based on the examination of three years of AP data, from 2011 to 2013, for the following criteria. Districts must:

§  Increase participation/access to AP by at least 4 percent in large districts, at least 6 percent in medium districts, and at least 11 percent in small districts;
§  Increase or maintain the percentage of exams taken by African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native students, and;
§  Improve performance levels when comparing the percentage of students in 2013 scoring a 3 or higher to those in 2011, unless the district has already attained a performance level at which more than 70 percent of its AP students are scoring a 3 or higher.

Overall, Texas ranked 13th in nation in the percentage of 2012 graduates participating in AP. Over the last decade, AP participation and success in Texas have increased steadily.

 

To view the complete listing of school districts named to the College Board’s 4th Annual AP^® District Honor Roll, visit www.collegeboard.org.

A Community Hero

We were excited two days ago to be informed one of our young ladies, Destiny Rose, was being recognized on KRLD as a "Community Hero." While our mums may go gigantic at homecoming some of our students certainly recognize this is an opportunity to help others in our community.

Please take a moment to read her story and listen to the recognition from the website.
KRLD Community Hero

End of 1st Six Weeks

As we begin our second six weeks we wanted to remind all families report cards will be digital this year. Please login to "Family Access" on Friday to see official 1st six weeks grades. If you need assistance please contact our guidance office at CHS for help from Kari Litwak. While we certainly believe digital is the best method we will remind all families if you want a hard copy the guidance office can also process this request.

Our students did a masterful job this first grading period and we are excited to have such a dedicated group of Dragons at CHS.

First SPARK Meeting